…after years of waiting I had the pleasure of seeing a Short-eared Owl (briefly) in Gateshead for the second time in a couple of days. They might be still there but unfortunately; I haven’t seen one since.
Short-eared Owl.
A male Stonechat that was sticking close to his chicks.
However, it’s a while ago since these images were taken
so the chicks are probably independent by now.
Meadow Pipit.
Curlew.
It was a few weeks ago when I saw some images of a Tawny Owl and I recognised the place where they were taken so I thought I would go and have a look for myself. Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to get any images of the parent birds (I did see at least one) however I did get some of the Tawny Owl chicks. I heard a couple of calls and realised it was the chicks calling for their parents. I could see both chicks sitting near the top of a tree so I took a few images while they were hopping around and then left them alone. A later quick trip to Far Pastures didn’t produce much, a Heron and some Tufted Duck were about the highlights.
Tawny Owl chick.
The second chick.
Nuthatch.
Female Great Spotted Woodpecker.
Heron.
Male Tufted Duck chasing a female.
She did a bit of wing flapping after that chase.
A Tufted Duck chick learning to dive.
Still catching up this time with a drive up on to the Durham Moors. All the images seen here were taken using the car as a hide so as not to disturb the birds too much.
Lapwing.
One of the Lapwings chicks running into the grass.
It hunkered down in the grass as I drove past.
The adult Lapwing wasn’t very happy about me being
there so I drove off and left them to it.
Curlew calling.
Another Curlew calling.
This looks like a young Stonechat to me but I could be
wrong.
While I was sitting in the conservatory a few days ago watching a Blackbird feed its chick I thought I would take some pictures of the other birds that come into our garden. Unfortunately, we don’t get the range of birds that we did Blue Tits, Great Tits, Greenfinch, and other small bird even Chaffinch are all absent. The images here were all shot through the double glazing so some are a bit soft.
This Sparrowhawk flew into the garden while I was
watching a Blackbird feed its chick.
It put everything up for a while however they soon
returned when it flew off.
The reason I was in the conservatory, Blackbird with
lunch.
One of the Blackbird chicks.
Female House Sparrow.
Male House Sparrow showing off to a female.
One of the House Sparrow chicks.
The most prolific bird in the garden is the Starling.
There are dozens of them.
This chick can’t make its mind up as to what it has
caught.
This one has caught a beetle while the adult looks on.
And then this happened. I have never seen a Starling sit like this before and
it was sitting like this for a while. I don’t know if is some sort of threatening
or defensive posture.
Chick begging for food.
I have captioned this “walk this way”
Collared Dove.
Jackdaws.
Take off.
Crow.
Magpie with dodgy eyes.
This Magpie seems to be ok.
